Designing a recurve ! (Build along) KABOOOM!!!

[damascusdave]

Jon Gharing is a very talented bowyer and he made those risers with hand tools. I think I can appreciate why he no longer does it having done the limited shaping of my Beaver Creek blank with only hand tools just to see if I could do it (and to avoid the potential big screw ups with power tools).

Looking forward to seeing yours when it is finished. I especially like the fact you decided to use i-beam lamination which creates a very nice effect in the sight window.

Old Mr.Bear had some pretty good ideas in that regard.

[damascusdave]

These are a couple of 1963 Polars with bubinga and zebrawood.

DDave

[damascusdave]

I rotated the pics to be within the required width but when I post them they go back to the original which is too wide. Now I remember why I gave up posting pics on this site.

DDave

[rmorris]

Aright , I started to fix this mess of a riser.. Ended up cutting it down some more and making each side the same.

 

I then cut a bunch of 1/8" strips of jatoba and padauk to layer on the belly of the riser.

 

Now we will wait and see what ends up happening

 

[Trux Turning]

Going to look better than what you started with now!! Lemons to lemonade-lol

[rmorris]

Trux, I was thinking the same thing. I am also thinking this may go into by little bag of tricks and be part of the regular design if it all works out. I will know more on Thursday when I can make it back out to the shop.

[tarponnut]

Very cool build-along.

[Buemaker]

Well, it just shows that a mistake can be turned into something positive and atractive, loking fine. Bue--.

[Dan Landis]

Ralph, you not only fixed the problem, you made it better, IMO.  really looking forward to seeing it completed....Dan

[rmorris]

Here is an update... I think this riser and myself may end up getting along.

 

 

 

[coaster500]

Great save Ralph looks very comfortable!!!

[SportHunter]

Nice work Ralph, looking great.

[rmorris]

Alright it was a productive Saturday so far. I am running out of stuff to do while everything is gluing up so I am here on my phone updating.

I got my form finished and got to gluing up the limbs.

 

I then mixed me glue in a plastic cup with some scrap wood chucked into a drill.

 

 

I then got my first limb in the oven

 

[rmorris]

After the first limb came out of the oven I glued on the overlays and started them cooking in my micro oven.

 

 

[rmorris]

And this is where I sit till I can get back to the shop.

 

[Swissbow]

Great job rmorris. Love those fishhook limbs, they look awesome. I bet that baby rocks like hell.

----------
Andy

[rmorris]

Well that was a fun build along ... I now would not recommend mesquite as the main riser wood on bow riser...

 

[Troy Breeding]

OUCH!!!

[Buemaker]

Too bad after so much work.Do you think the break came because the I beam  did not exstend through the shelf area. Bue--.

[rmorris]

Good point, that could of been one of the reasons. My opinion is there was more material in the area where it failed as compared to my longbows so I dont it was a material size or design problem.The biggest  contributing factors in my opinion is that the grain of the mesquite did not run completely parallel from each end of the riser. The grain had about a 15 degree slant from the belly of the riser running up towards the back of the bow and the break is fairly clean on that axis the grain is running. I should have checked out that piece of wood better before using it.

I dont think I have the skills to salvage this riser 2x, so I think I will be working on a new one soon...